Carl W. Kenney II is an award winning columnist and novelist. He is committed to engaging readers into a meaningful discussion related to matters that impact faith and society. He grapples with pondering the impact faith has on public space while seeking to understand how public space both hinders and enhances the walk of faith.

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The Rev-elution endorses candidates for mayor and city council.

It’s endorsement time! It’s endorsement time!

I know, it’s probably true no one really cares about what I
think. This is the work left for Political Action Committees like the Durham Committee
on the Affairs of Black People, People’s Alliance and the Friends of Durham to
figure out. The newspapers often chime in, with Indy Week mostly embracing whatever
the People’s Alliance decides and the Herald-Sun doing their best to make a
decision among those left after the great shakedown. That would be Mark Schultz,
Cliff Bellamy and Greg Childress.

They all do a great job of picking among the candidates. This
year has been more difficult due to the number of highly qualified and gifted
people running for office. No matter what happens, Durham gonna be alright. You
catch that? I got Kendrick Lamar on my mind today.

So, here I go. I couple of thoughts before I start.

Unlike some of the other endorsement list, I thought long
and hard regarding how each person, if selected, impacts the chemistry of the
city council. As much as credentials and public policy views impact the
management of city government, and it does, Durham has learned tough lessons
from the past regarding what happens when you place a Muhammad Ali personality
in the ring with Joe Frazier.

Forgive my boxing reference. I’m still processing the beat
down McGregor received from Mayweather. Just like that fight, the wrong group
of people on the council will create a stir that mirrors the rope a dope
followed by a shoulder roll. I based my decisions on gut stuff that church folk
call the Holy Spirit. In many cases I may be wrong, but dang it, it’s my
freaking list.

Drum roll please.

Mayor of the cool city

This one was hard to call.
I came close to simply rolling the dice to see what the end would be,
but then the clouds opened to reveal the sun. Not really, but that’s what we
preachers do. It’s important to paint a picture.

Thus, this came down to things beyond those credentials. I’ll
begin with who I left out among the final two and why.

I like Pierce Freelon. I love his energy and passion. What I
didn’t like was his sales pitch. It went something like this – vote for me
because the average age in Durham is 33. We need representation on the council that
reflects the views of Millennials. We rule the world. Step back old folks.

Okay, it’s gentler than that, but Freelon’s pitch made me
feel like the old horse sent out to the pasture after losing too many races. My
study of African religion has taught me to honor the views of the elders. They
bring insight and wisdom nurtured through the years. Getting old isn’t a curse.
It’s to be honored and respected for helping us look back and learn lessons
while keeping both eyes on the prize.

I didn’t like being told to step aside. With that said,
there is something about Freelon’s energy that helped me see beyond this
election. I simply believe Durham’s political structure would limit Freelaon. I
want to see him serve beyond the restrictions of local government. His voice
and leadership seems to be bigger than Durham. Not sure where that is, but I
hope we will experience what that means.

I endorse Farad Ali
as Mayor.

Why -because he’s too good not to participate in our
government. I hear you. I hear you. What does that make Steve Schewel – chicken
feed? Oh no. I selected Ali because Schewel will remain on the council if
defeated. My desire for both candidates led me to go with the one who won’t
serve if defeated.

There’s a second part to this decision. I’m not willing to
trust the newly elected city council with the selection of Schewel’s
replacement. This came to me after
reading threads regarding the time it took for People’s Alliance to complete
their endorsement process. I hear it was long and grueling. I’m not prepared
for the heat in the room if the city council is forced to make that decision.

Call me a wimp, but, in my mind, it’s the best of all
worlds. It can be argued that Schewel deserves being elevated to mayor after
years of faithful service. I dig it. I really get that, but what a team.

Every time I fly in and out of RDU I see Ali’s smiling mug
on the walls. He’s there glaring at people entering our region like a super
hero positioned to protect us from the forces of evil. Okay, I’m doing that
preacher thing again, but you get the point. Ali has established regional
juice. Some progressives may not like what that means, but he brings
credibility to the city in ways that continues the work of Mayor Bill Bell.

Again, those progressive hate that. There’s nothing like a
series of private/public partnership to irk the souls of those baptized in
white privilege. Make it go away! I get that, but it’s why I love the balance
between the two.

What I love most about Schewel is his vision for affordable
housing. It’s insightful. It’s creative. It’s a work of genius. Yeah, those are
big words that puff Schewel up like the magic dragon. He has the plan that can
work, and if not for what we would forfeit without Ali, he is my dude.

I’m sure you have questions. See me after class.

Let’s move on to Ward
1.

This is the classic old school, new school battle. In this corner, we
have Cora Cole McFadden. She’s from Durham and a graduate of NCCU. She has
served in city government and has served as Durham’s Mayor Pro Tem. In this
corner, we have DeDrena Freeman. She’s an up and coming superstar having served
on the Durham Planning Commission. She has served as a member of the North
Carolina Democratic Party Executive Board. Sure you right.

This is a case of finding what makes me feel good. Like Halle
Berry in “Monster Ball”, there are times when you have to go with what feels
like chemistry. For me, it’s about muscle memory. What feels good is a person
on the council who remembers what Durham looked like before the hipsters showed
up with enough cash to elevate the cost of downtown housing. By memory I mean
more than life in the city before Bill Bell and the years after urban removal.

Youth on the council is important, but, given the radical
changes we face, we need a person on the council who can talk about how we got
here, the mistake we made and what needs to be done to overcome the damage.

Call me old school. I endorse Cora Cole-McFadden

Then came Ward 2.

This is the toughest decision to make. Can we pick all of them? Why not? Okay,
I have to decide.

I endorse Mark
Anthony Middleton for reasons beyond where he went to divinity school (Duke pride) or the fact that he’s my brother
in ministry (preach Middleton). This is about the substance and spirit of his
work. This is about working with the masses during a time when people are
downright nasty related to how they talk about and engage with men and women of
the cloth.

It takes more than a Bible and a bunch of charisma to do the
work of ministry. No other profession comes close to mimicking what it means to
be a politician. If you don’t believe me spend some time at a church business
meeting. Help me Jesus.

But, more than Middleton’s calling and practice of faith,
this is about the hard work he’s doing in promoting justice, peace and
understanding. That’s hard work given how new jack revolutionaries view grassroots mobilization.
That’s a chat for a later day, but let me clearly state they can’t handle the
truth.

Among the others, John Rooks is doing the darn thing. He is
giving his time and money in support of residents in McDougald Terrace. His
heart is in the right place. He deserves this, but it’s his work with law
enforcement that shifted the scale in the direction of Middleton.

He organized monthly meetings, along with Delbert “Deej
Kraze” Jarmon, to advance communication with local police. I attended the
meetings early on, but felt they became more of a public relations campaign for
the police department than an authentic space to discuss legitimate concerns
with law enforcement. I began to sense sentiments that negate the voice of the
Black Lives Matter movement. You know what that means. I ain’t got no time for
that.

I see promise in Levon Barnes. I told him a setback is a
setup for a comeback. Well, not in those words, but expect him to return with
the fury of a resurrection.

Ward 3 was surprisingly
easy for me.

It came down to the battle of the legal minds. I respect the
work of Don Moffitt; but the black women running this time pushed him to the
side like grandmamma used to do when she gave me the hand.

Vernetta Alston is impressive. What disturbs me about Alston
is that catch phrase – progressive. In Durham, it’s used like a weapon. It
often implies a white agenda that negates the significance of black progressive
ideology. Put another way, white people in Durham think they out-progressive
black progressive. It’s a point that drives me over the edge.

When I hear Alston say progressive I think of views that
reflect a labeling of progressive that needs to be balanced by black
progressive views. When white progressive is construed as right progressive,
black progressive views take a black seat in defining movements that move poor
black people in the direction of progress.

It’s the reason I failed to endorse Moffitt. In many ways,
Alston is Moffitt in black, queer embodiment. That’s a good thing, but, for me,
it gets at the core issue of chemistry that advances causes beyond the People’s
Alliances assumptions regarding a progressive agenda.

Shelia Huggins
brings the balance that makes me feel good. Like Alston, she’s an attorney who
has jumped into the fray of doing public service. She has the right stuff
needed to process through all side of arguments placed on the table. She’s is
engaged enough not to become the puppet candidate of a particular PAC. I see
her as a mediator willing to do the right thing, not because of pre-assigned
labels of what it means to be a Durham progressive, but because of the data
placed before her by staff and the conversations coming from all sides of the
position.

I did it!

I see this as a celebration of the great work done by past
council members. Schewel and McFadden are the link to the past. Middleton and
Huggins are the future of Durham.

With that said, thanks to all who ran. All of you rock. Some
I didn’t mention here, but I got love for all of you.

Well, all but Sylvester Williams. I can’t give a shout out
to a minister who opposes gay rights. Not on my watch.

To the rest of you, nothing but love for you and what you do
for my city.

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Carl W. Kenney II

Carl was named the best serious columnist of 2011 by the North Carolina Press Association for his work with the News & Observer's community paper The Durham News and in 2016 by the Missouri Press Association for his columns in the Columbia Missourian. He is a columnist with the News & Observer and Co-Executive Producer of "God of the Oppressed" an upcoming documentary film on black liberation theology. He is a former Adjunct Professor at the University of Missouri - School of Journalism and Adjunct Instructor at Duke University, the Center for Documentary Studies. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He furthered his education at Duke University and attained a Master of Divinity. He was named a Fellow in Pastoral Leadership Development at the Princeton Theological Seminary on May 14, 2005. He is a freelance writer with his commentary appearing in The Washington Post, Religious News Services,The Independent Weekly and The Durham Herald-Sun. Carl is the author of two novels: “Preacha’ Man” and the sequel “Backslide”.
He has led congregations in Missouri and North Carolina